What some people might not know is that Joan is an adopted Australian -- she grew up in Canada. She's here today to tell us about some of the differences she's noticed between Canadian and Australian Christmases AND she's giving away an absolutely fabulous recipe for panforte! Thanks Joan!

Christmas
Dinner -- Canucks versus Aussies

By
Joan Kilby

When I was growing up in Canada,
Christmas dinner meant a 25 lb roast turkey, stuffing--or dressing as we called
it--mashed potatoes, cooked vegetables, home-made bread rolls, and from the
German Mennonite side of the family, bubbat, a raisin-laced, doughy, cakey
stuffing that, along with everything else, was drenched in lashings of gravy
made from pan drippings. This was followed by homemade pies--pumpkin, apple and
plum. Also, Christmas cake, shortbread, mince tarts, Nanaimo bar and butter
tarts. Whew!

We Canucks need heavy food at
Christmas to create a layer of blubber as protection against the long cold
winter in case we get caught in a blizzard and have to live off our fat reserves
for a week or two. In Vancouver (where I’m from) you would be more likely to
drown from forty days and forty nights of rain but the blubber would still come
in handy as a built-in flotation device if you were swept away by the deluge.

Fast forward to present day
Australia. I’ve lived here for upwards of twenty years but I will never get used to having Christmas in
summer. Every year I think wistfully, This
year I’ll make a hot turkey dinner. Then I look at the weather forecast. I’d
have to be crazy to swelter in the kitchen all day when it’s 35 C outside! Yes,
sometimes it rains on Christmas day in Melbourne but it still doesn’t feel like
Canada. Probably what I’m really pining for is my lost childhood but that ain’t coming back. So I have another
dip in the pool before I put on the barbecue. After all, it’s Christmas.

I serve cold roast chicken, sliced
baked ham and half a dozen different salads. I love the Aussie tradition of
seafood at Christmas so barbecued prawns with chilli, ginger and garlic are a
favourite starter. Dessert is a fruit platter and my own homemade panforte, the
spicy Italian fruit and nut cake. All in all, it’s a lot lighter and healthier
than turkey with five starches.

Here is my recipe for panforte which
I’ve adapted from several recipes. Classic recipes use fruit peel and glace
fruits but I prefer dried fruits. It makes a great Christmas gift, or an energy
boost when you’re starving but you’ve still got pages to write before you can
call it a day. It’s a lot of work but it’s so worth it.

Joan's latest book is "To Be A Family" and it's out right now in Australia.

Panforte

400 g whole blanched almonds, toasted and kept
hot to help with mixing

- toast nuts, timing them so they’re ready when
everything else is ready to be mixed together.

- in a large bowl, mix the nuts, dried fruit,
flour, cocoa, spices and chocolate. I mix the flour, cocoa and spices
separately first to make sure they’re evenly mixed.

- bring the water, honey and sugar to boil and
pour over mix in bowl. This will be thick and dryish. Don't be tempted to add
extra liquid.

- Mix well.

- press into the tin, using a sheet of baking
paper or oiled fingers to pat it out. Careful, it's hot! Or press down with
half a cut lemon which gives a nice zing to the finished cake.

- Bake for 35 minutes until the top is covered
in fine blisters.

- when cool slice thinly to serve

YUM!

Don't forget, as part of TDoCFaRBE I'm encouraging you all to undertake a Random Act of Kindness throughout the festive season. During December, Random Acts is very helpfully making suggestions for all kinds of acts of kindness you can perform. Or you can simply send them a donation and wear a smile all day.

Ebs, I like to think he's zipping down and that his grin is for the heroine. :) When you look at the thumbnail you can almost imagine his pink hands are mittens and the whitish background is snow. Maybe Harlequin Sydney knows I'm homesick for Canada.

Hi Joan,I like a country where you're actually encouraged to pile on some winter pounds and there's good reasoning behind it. But much as I love the idea of a white Christmas, for me our Aussie style is just as ingrained in my DNA. Lovely to read about the different foods Canadians eat at Christmas. I remember the year my Mississippian sister in law brought peas cooked in milk to Christmas dinner. Blank looks all round :-)

Hi Louise,Peas in milk, that's a new one on me. At least in Canada you don't notice the extra winter pounds so much beneath all the layers of sweaters and raincoats. Bathing suits on the other hand, are pretty unforgiving so it's a good thing our dinners are lighter.

I love panforte! Will have to try this Joan. Just a tip, if you ever do want the turkey dinner, a webber cooks a mean turkey and does it OUTSIDE. That's how my Mum used to do it, as soon as she got a webber. Because we loved the turkey and multiple carbohydrate dinner, even in summer!

You're absolutely right, Imelda. We have a Webber and we cook whole roast chickens on there all the time. Now I have to confess the other reason I never do a turkey -- they're just too expensive in this country. Turkeys are cheap where I come from and to pay more than you do for chicken, well, that's just wrong. But, you've got me thinking about it again...

Pork is also brilliant in the Webber. Great crackling and cooked to a turn. I'm sure I remember a Christmas were we had hot pork for Christmas dinner. I have a feeling we had cold glazed ham and turkey as well, which sounds insane but there were a lot of us! And you know, excess is how we roll at Christmas! If the lounge room is not littered with people groaning lightly and falling asleep after Christmas dinner, you're doing it wrong! ;)

Hi JoniIt's your cousin from the 'great white north'. Yes, we have experienced both cultures as well. Our Christmas in Australia in 2004 was much less stressful. Up at the crack of dawn, open gifts, out for a swim in the ocean back home to prepare a nice lunch; salads, seafood etc. Here in Canada we raise the turkey, kill it, stuff it and roast it, along with all the trimmings as you said. Do miss our family get togethers. Merry Christmas to all in Oz

Hi Lorrie, It's great to hear from you here. Christmas with the Janzen cousins is a huge part of my nostalgia for Christmas Past. Your mum's pfeffernusse will always be linked in my mind to the day. Oh, now I'm really homesick. I didn't know you raised your own turkeys nowadays! And killed and cleaned it. Wow. Merry Christmas to you and your family.

Hi Serena, I blush to show my panforte recipe to an Italian! But I love it so much. It's not that hard, just a bit time-consuming. You should try it and tell me how it stacks up against the real thing. :)

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After years of writing press releases, employee newsletters and speeches for CEOs and politicians – none of which included any kind of kissing – Emmie Dark finally took to her laptop to write what she wanted to write. She was both amazed and delighted to discover that what came out was sexy, noble heroes who found themselves crossing paths with strong, determined heroines. And plenty of kissing. Emmie's first two books were published in 2012 by Harlequin SuperRomance.
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